The Department of Biological Sciences is well-equipped with modern
facilities, equipment, and support personnel to assist in research and
teaching functions. Seminar rooms, the computer lab, and equipment may be booked online.
Bamfield Marine Station |
Aquatic Research |
Plant Sciences |
Animal Care |
Computing |
Other |
Insectary
Current list of common and shared
departmental equipment (SFU only)
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The department has access to a university Animal Care Facility. The ACF has a centralized holding facility, as well as aquatic research facilities (see below). The facility is run by a director in consultation with a university-wide Animal Care Committee. The use and care of animals conforms to guidelines specified by NSERC and the Canadian Council on Animal Care. |
 Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre
The Bamfield Marine Station located on the west coast of Vancouver Island (Barkley Sound), encompasses research and teaching in many aspects of the marine biological sciences including marine resource research and development work. Situated on 75 hectares of waterfront property next to a diverse range of high quality marine environments, the Bamfield Station is the only facility of its kind on the outer coast between Oregon and Alaska.
Facilities include well-serviced laboratories with an open circulation seawater system; equipment suited to a wide range of biological research; a 12 meter research vessel; excellent scuba support facilities; scientific stores; museum, lecture, teaching laboratory and shop facilities. There are food and housing services for station users.
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Cellular Facilities
These include biohazard and radioisotope containment facilities, a cell
culture room, autoclaves, cold rooms, analytical facilities including
cellular micro-injection apparatus, various GC/HPLC chromatographs, ultracentrifuges,
microspectrophotometer, gel documentation system, Coulter particle counter, freezer dryer,
and cryostat microtome. |
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Primary research computing facilities for the Department are provided through individual lab-supported computing clusters, the departmental computing lab, and the University-wide Academic Computing Services. Other important computing resources include
IRMACS,
SFU Bioinformatics group, a
Beowulf Cluster, and the
Westgrid computing project. For departmental computer support, go to our Computer Facilities webpage.
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Insectary Facilities
The Department has a large Insectary with individual rooms for research purposes. The completion of the Global Forest Insect Quarantine facility in 2001 allows us to also rear and maintain quarantine insects as well for research. |
Marine & Freshwater Aquatic Research Facilities
Biological Sciences is committed to support research in aquatic biology. On campus, Animal Care has extensive holding facilities for freshwater organisms, including large salmonids, and a small seawater reservoir. The Alcan Freshwater Aquatic Research Facility greatly increases the research capabilities of the aquatic biologists. |
Other Facilities
The department also has several research vehicles and boats for field work, including the 34 foot MV Pelagic. The Faculty of Science Technical Centre provides glassblowing, machine and electronics shop support services.
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The current greenhouses, outside growing plots, and growth chamber facilities are used extensively by a broad range of researchers. Research areas utilizing these facilities include forest ecophysiology, plant pathology, pest management and behavioural ecology. The facilities also produce the standard teaching plant materials and maintain a selected collection of species from various continents and climatic zones. Information on plants can be found in the greenhouse database.
The construction of the new biotechnology greenhouse was completed in 2006. This 11,000 sq. ft. greenhouse has five growth rooms with independent regulation of light intensity, temperature and irrigation. The greenhouse also has basic infrastructure and protocols to handle plants with novel traits level 1 and 2 in accordance with the SFU and Canadian Food Inspection Agency's biosafety regulations.
Please review the Protocol for Departmental Plant Growth Facilities. Please see Facilities Map.
To apply for plant growth space, please complete the fillable Plant growth facilities
PDF application form and then print and submit it to Leslie Dodd. |
The Radionuclide Facility is located in Rm. 7249 of Biological Sciences. This facility deals with the receiving, distribution and waste handling of radioactive materials for the entire campus. It also provides support in setting up laboratories for the safe use of radioactive materials. Instruments used for the detection and analysis of radioactivity are housed and maintained here. There are three liquid scintillation counters, a gamma counter, and a biological oxidizer available for use by research and teaching. Ordering information for radionuclides is also available here.
The Radiation Safety Office and the University Radiation Safety Committee provide support to radiation users on campus. New faculty who need to use radioisotopes in their research need a permit and application forms to obtain one are available by following the link below. SFU is granted a license by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and the Radiation Safety Office issues permits according to the conditions outlined by the CNSC. For more information regarding the use of radioactive materials at SFU please visit: http://www.sfu.ca/~rsafety/index.html
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